ISLAMABAD: According to a PICSS analysis, terrorism increased by 79% in the first half of 2023.
The research warned that 271 extremist incidents occurred in the past six months, killing 389 and wounding 656.
The first half of 2022 saw 151 attacks, 293 deaths, and 487 injuries.
The first half of this year saw a 79% surge in militant attacks.
228 attacks in the second half of 2022 killed 246 and injured 349. In the first half of 2023, attacks increased 18%, fatalities 58%, and injuries 88%.
Pakistani security forces killed 236 militants and arrested 295 suspected militants in the first six months of 2023.
With 174 insurgent assaults in the first half of the year, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the worst-hit province. These attacks killed 266 and injured 463.
100 attacks occurred in mainland KP, inflicting 188 deaths and 354 injuries, while 74 happened in tribal regions (formerly FATA), causing 78 deaths and 109 injuries.
According to the PICSS Militancy Database, terror incidents in KP’s tribal areas rose 51% in the first half of 2023 compared to 2022, but fatalities fell 10% and 15%.
Terror attacks in mainland KP rose 108% in the first half of 2023.
The second half of 2022 saw a 25% growth. Compared to the first and last halves of 2022, mainland KP fatalities increased by 53% and 132%, respectively.
In the first half of 2023, 75 terror events in Balochistan killed 100 and injured 163.
Terror attacks increased by 103% and 14%, respectively, according to the PICSS Militancy Database.
Balochistan’s first six months saw a 61% and 64% increase in fatalities compared to 2022.
Sindh had 13 terror attacks in the first six months of 2023, killing 19 and injuring 19. The first six months of this year saw a 19% fall and a 44% surge compared to the first and second halves of last year.
Sindh fatalities increased 27% from the first half of the previous year and 171% from the last six months of 2022.
In the first half of 2023, Punjab saw eight terror strikes, six of which killed and injured six people. The first six months of 2022 had only one militant incident, while the last six months saw two.
In the first half of 2023, 13 suicide strikes killed 142 and injured 309, a worrying trend.
During the same period last year, five suicide attacks killed 77 and injured 225. Pakistan had 10 suicide strikes in the second half of 2022, killing 24 and injuring 65.
